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About this project

The Kapsule Lightstand

For the Amazon Kindle 3 / Kindle Keyboard

*Free worldwide shipping for the earliest early adopters*

The Kapsule Lightstand is everything that you need to make your Kindle complete. It's the highest quality reading light available, and it gets its power straight from the Kindle. It has a slide-out kickstand for hands-free reading, and it provides a comfortable ergo-style grip for long reading sessions.

There are other reading lights for the Amazon Kindle, but they all seem to be designed as an after-thought. And unlike most other reading lights, you'll never find youself in the dark with a dead battery.

Features:

Optimized LED and light hood. The Kapsule provides comfortable, glare-free light. And the unique retractable gooseneck allows you to adjust the light however you prefer.

Power-efficient design. The Kapsule sips power, so your time between Kindle charges is hardly impacted. It uses 25%-50% less juice than Amazon's Portfolio light.

Power management chip. The Kapsule's light is always steady and even. It never dims like most other lights. And the power management chip protects your Kindle, too, since it prevents any power draw if either the Kindle or the Kapsule are turned off.

Piggy-back design. The Kapsule clips on to the Kindle, and is securely positioned in the back. You never see it while you're reading, so there's no visual distractions. And it doesn't block the side page-turn buttons.

We're really far along. We have a final prototype, including the case, the circuit boards and metal clips. We have a final bill of materials set. We've identified multiple suppliers of each subsystem, and have started receiving samples from them.

We still need to have injection molds created for the case (expensive!), potentially have machining created for the metal clip production, figure out the packaging, and we need to design a test rig for the circuit boards.

What will the money be used for?

Injection molds,

Machining for the metal clips,

Final production test runs,

Final production run,

Rewards and shipping,

And if anything's left, as unlikely as that may be, funds will be used to develop a version of the Kapsule for the Kindle Touch and the Kindle 4.

What is the Kapsule compatible with?

The Kapsule Lightstand is designed to work with the Amazon Kindle 3, AKA the Kindle Keyboard. It will not work with the DX, the Touch or the Kindle 4, nor will it work with any previous models.

We are, however, planning on following up with a version of the Kapsule for the Kindle 4 and the Kindle Touch. Your support for this project will ensure that design becomes a reality!

Where is the Kapsule going to be made?

We're still finalizing our suppliers, but we're leaning heavily towards domestic production of everything that can be produced in the USA. This includes the goosenecks, the circuit boards and the plastics. And we're planning on having final assembly done in Brooklyn, NY.

Our reasons? We believe that American craftsmanship is among the best. For example, our goosenecks are the highest quality on the planet. They'll never wear out. And the metal parts suppliers have helped us in ways that foreign suppliers never would. Domestic vendors are also very responsive and have very fast turnarounds, relative to having it all made in China.

Of course, we also like that we're helping our community, too.

Thank You

Thank you for visiting our Kickstarter campaign. We appreciate everyone's support. And if you decide to forgo a monetary contribution, please Tweet about, post it on Facebook and Google+ It's the second biggest contribution that you can make!

Well, you tell us. We chose white since it shows up rather nicely in photos against the charcoal of the Kindle, but we can make it anything that you'd like. Leave a comment or send us a message, and we'll do whatever the y'all think best.

Rewards

$1 reward

All of the files required to build your own Kapsule (Gerber and STL files), before we open source it.

Estimated delivery:Feb 2012

You selected

$10 reward

1 backer

A Kapsule motherboard, unpopulated. Makes a great bookmark for the paper books that you don't read any longer. Price includes US shipping, please add $5 for international.

Estimated delivery:Feb 2012

You selected

$15 reward

0 backers

A kit of all of the guts of the Kapsule (motherboard, daughterboard and all electronic components). Fire up that surface mount oven and make your own case! Goosenecks not included. Price includes US shipping, please add $10 for international.

Estimated delivery:Feb 2012

You selected

$20 reward

1 backer

A kit of all of the guts, but with fully populated motherboard - for those that don't have a surface mount oven, but still want to roll their own case. Goosenecks not included. Price includes US shipping, please add $10 for international.

Estimated delivery:Feb 2012

You selected

$40 reward

20 backers
Limited (30 left of 50)

A Kapsule Lightstand, fully assembled and tested.

Estimated delivery:Feb 2012

You selected

$75 reward

2 backers
Limited (48 left of 50)

Two Kapsule Lightstands, fully assembled and tested.

Estimated delivery:Feb 2012

You selected

$125 reward

1 backer
Limited (9 left of 10)

Not your name in lights, but your name in a light.
Two Kapsule Lightstands, plus your name and logo will be printed on all Kapsule motherboards made.

Estimated delivery:Feb 2012

You selected

$250 reward

0 backers
Limited (10 left of 10)

A finished Kapsule, plus a hand-crafted custom prototype-style Kapsule weeks before the production units ship.

Estimated delivery:Feb 2012

You selected

$500 reward

1 backer
Limited (9 left of 10)

Two finished Kapsules, a hand-crafted custom prototype-style Kapsule weeks before the production unit ship, and an Amazon Kindle Keyboard customized with the Pieco logo and a hand-signed thank you on the back.

Estimated delivery:Feb 2012

Funding period

Dec 13, 2011 - Jan 20, 2012
(38 days)

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